Around the Bloc: NGOs: Reject Russia’s Bid to Join UN Human Rights Body
Russia’s role in Syria should disqualify it from representing Eastern Europe at the world’s foremost human rights body, global NGOs say.
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Russia’s role in Syria should disqualify it from representing Eastern Europe at the world’s foremost human rights body, global NGOs say.
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Azerbaijan is known for its poor record on human rights and the detention of its political prisoners. Yet, the regime continues to deny the existence of these prisoners while the West turns a blind eye to the abuses in the name of strategic partnership and energy co-operation. What more will it take to end the business-as-usual approach towards Azerbaijan?
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A conversation with Rasul Jafarov, an Azerbaijani lawyer and human rights defender who was arrested in 2014 and sentenced to six and a half years. He was pardoned in March 2016. Interviewer: Agnieszka Lichnerowicz
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Five nations in Central Asia emerged from the rubble of the Soviet Union, only to enjoy the briefest of flirtations with political diversity. Throughout the 25 years since Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan gained independence, jailing political opponents has become a commonplace.
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This paper examines the two basic models of the state authorities’ intervention into family life aimed at protecting children. The first model focuses on child protection; the second one focuses on child welfare or family support. The author analyses the differences and tensions that arise between the proponents of these two concepts, resulting in different styles ofconceiving professional social work. Further on, the author elaborates on two different approaches towards mistakes and risks accompanying social work, involving the concept of risk avoidance and the concept of risk taking. Finally, the author observes the interconnectivity between the analyzed concepts.
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Bank broke its own rules at the expense of hundreds of displaced Kosovars, leaked report states.
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The article presents a historical aspect of development of the right to privacy in the American legal system. The considerations bring closer the most significant issues concerning the privacy protection presented among U.S. case-law and doctrine.
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Since 2011 Burma has witnessed a gradual process of liberalization of political situation in this country, called “the Burmese thaw”. The ongoing changes in Myanmar so far brought significant achievements, including the release of political prisoners and cease-fire agreements with ethnic minorities guerillas. Moreover, Myanmar has witnessed liberalization of the press, the release of political prisoners and the initiation of a political dialogue between the regime on the one hand and the opposition and ethnic groups on the other. The reforms culminated in by-elections on 1 April 2012, which in turn resulted in a landslide victory for Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD). The West acclaimed these changes by lifting economical sanctions imposed for Myanmar for violating human rights decades ago. This political thaw, was not, however done due to domestic reasons, such as liberalization or any kind of reconciliation between the government and opposition. The most important reason to start reforms was China’s threat. The regime seems to have felt the need to balance China’s presence in the country. The opening-up to the West, therefore, is intended to rid Myanmar of the Chinese embrace. The reforms are meant to be a sign to the international community, especially the EU and the US, to engage with the country. This is ongoing now, with the addition of Japan. However, decades of civil war and human rights violations have created deep mistrust between the ethnic groups and the military. Consequently, it is possible that without a clear road map for political negotiations and reforms, the current peace initiative will fail and will end in renewed fighting. The country’s reform process is ongoing but fragile; at the moment it is impossible to say whether it will lead to real democratization or to a different form of authoritarian rule. The ongoing reforms in Burma seems more to be a regime’s make-up than a beginning of path leading to democratization.Nevertheless, the changes brought significant progress to the Burmese society. For the first time since two decades hope returned. The changes are noticeable, perceptible. In a year, maybe two, Burma may change from a comfortable (to us) “alternative utopia” into a new colony of global world. Westernization and globalization, first blocked by Ne Win’s autarchy and then by Than Shwe’s isolation, is inevitably arriving in Burma.
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The article refers to a protection of minors as premise of restriction the retransmission of audiovisual media services in the light of EU law, in particular present directive 2010/13/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 march 2010 on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in member states concerning the provision of audiovisual media services. It consists of four parts. First is an introduction presenting the basic terms and approaches to the issue; special attention is put on the country of origin principle and the specificity of both economic and cultural dimension of audiovisual services. The second presents an origin of current legal standard of exceptional possibility of derogation of freedom of retransmission on the protection of minors basis within the scope of Council Directive 89/552/EEC on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States concerning the pursuit of television broadcasting activities and directive 97/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 June 1997 amending Council Directive 89/552/ EEC on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States concerning the pursuit of television broadcasting activities. Third is devoted to the presentation of the problem in the light of a contemporary directive 2010/13/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 March 2010 on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States concerning the provision of audiovisual media services (Audiovisual Media Services Directive); on-demand services are described separately. Lastly some conclusions referring in particular to the new challenges are included. It should be marked that currently EU treats the problem of minors protection in non-linear audiovisual media services environment as one of the most important issue regarding the content`s context.
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Climate change is considered to be one of the most important and difficult –to-assess challenges facing humanity in the twenty-first century. It was considered by the Secretary-General of United Nations Ban Ki - monna’a as a key challenge faced by humanity in times of peace. It is because the aftereffects of the activities of certain countries have or will have a number of consequences for the life and health of people around the world. Climate change exacerbates global inequality and conditions of survival. The consequences of these changes expose numerous geopolitical implications. They will be associated with flooding of lowland areas, the threat of deprivation of areas of important economic and political importance as well as endangering sovereignty of nations.
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Latest trial ended with conviction on espionage and treason charges for text message about Russian military transport.
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The surrogate motherhood implies bearing and delivering of a child (premature delivery included) under the contract concluded between a surrogate mother (a woman bearing a child after a donor embryo transfer) and potential parents, whose germ cells were used for the fertilization, or a single woman, who cannot bear and deliver a child for medical grounds. The article focuses on the number of legal, political, moral, and ethical problems arising when implementing surrogate motherhood. The author analyzes laws of various countries in the world as well as the court practice. The author distinguishes the following legal problems in this sphere: ensuring rights of a married infertile couple that concluded a contract with a surrogate mother; ensuring rights of children born by a surrogate mother; and the necessity to clarify the content of a contract with a surrogate mother. Within the study of the moral and ethical aspect of surrogate motherhood two issues are under consideration – secular and religious. In the first sense, representatives of medicine considering the problem of surrogate motherhood from a pragmatic point of view adhere to the up-to-date reproductive technologies and support them. Lawyers also don’t see here any particular ethical problems. They suppose that the right to physical and mental integrity involves a legal power of a citizen to independently use and dispose of his own body and freely commit acts in accordance with his consciousness and will. The position of religious communities on this problem is controversial. Islamic theologists admit the application of this method provided that it is the only way to bear a child. The Russian Orthodox Church has a very negative attitude toward the idea of surrogate motherhood. Its representatives sometimes compare surrogate motherhood with prostitution. They claim that if the God did not give children to a married couple, it is inadmissible to correct it with medical remedies (by means of reproductive technologies). In conclusion the attention is drawn to the necessity of political solution of this problem by developing and providing government financing for a special program to support those women, who got into a tight real life situation. It is expected that the solution of this range of existing problems will diminish the acuteness of public discussions.
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The ethics of care is a possible link between prison health and medicine, quality of care and treatment. On the base of that subject held proposal of a comparative research project between the Italian penitentiary health system and the prison health care system in Poland. The proposal to turn a research project related to the relationship between the ethics of care, health and medicine penitentiary was born with the aim to demonstrate how the context of the latter express the many facets of the relational ethics of care and its, on the other hand, as it may provide, through medicine prison, an essential dimension of the treatment process. Usually, at least in our cultural dimension we usually consider interconnected and liberty, property and the full availability of your body : the right to health is understood as a derivative of the right to liberty and the right to life . As should be understood that right in a situation like that in which prison inmates are not free , and above all live in a particular condition of socialization independent of their choice ? The extent to which an inmate can make choices concerning their health which may cause discomfort to those who, necessarily, shares the space with him or imply higher economic costs for the community? In our society it is almost trite to say that the state must guarantee the right to health of prisoners but becomes a subject of deep reflection if this right is identified as a state of total well -being for every individual. In today’s complex and diverse social needs and the different conceptions of well -being may come into conflict.
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Among other things global transformations, have had a huge change in the area of family and marriage. The traditional model of the family based on marriage understood as the union of a man and a woman must coexist with the model of marriage between persons of the same sex. An important role in these changes, having been reflected in legislation, played by the European Court of Human Rights, which, by expanding the interpretation of provisions of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms introduced to the doctrine of non-discrimination of any relationships. Such a position raises a number of comments and even objections. In the jurisprudence of the Court can see a clear line to protect children against their abuse.
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In modern constitutions, there is a provision regarding the principles governing the relationship between the state and the Church. These are basic principles, or rules, which define a certain model that is realized in the entire legal system. The model that was written into the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, adopted on 2 April 1997, constitutes a capstone of changes to the legal system that occurred during the period of 1989-1997. Moreover, it has ensured the religious safety of the democratic state that Poland had become after 1989. Art. 25 contains the principles governing the institutional relationship between the State and the churches and other religious organizations. The provision ensures religious safety in the functioning of churches and other religious organizations in Poland. Art. 53 of the Constitution, found in Chapter II: “The Freedoms, Rights and Obligations of Persons and Citizens”, ensured the religious safety in terms of the right to freedom of conscience and religion that every person is entitled to. The principles established in Art. 25 and 53 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland protect the two dimensions of freedom: the freedom of conscience and religion. The freedom of religion protected at the institutional level, i.e. it defines the rules governing the relationship between the State and churches and other religious organizations. Moreover, the right to the freedom of conscience and religion protected at the individual level. Those who belong to churches and religious organizations are, at the same time, the citizens of the Polish state. Therefore, they need the state to ensure that they can safely practice their religion. The assurance of religious safety at the individual level constitutes the basis for religious safety at the institutional level, since both these categories are interconnected.
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This article describes the issues of the rights of persons with disabilities. It raises a subject of most important documents that regulate this issue. It provides the analysis of law in the international legislation acts, such as Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons, the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities also the Convention on the Rights of the Child and others etc. It refers not only to fundamental rights of persons, but also to protection of health, medical services, rehabilitation, employment and education.
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Declaration of European Muslims presented by reisu-l-ulama Dr. Mustafa Cerić at the Islamic Forum Conference in August 2005, is a significant step in presenting Muslims and the teachings of Islam to the European Union (EU). Declaration states the position of European Muslims addressing three kinds of audiences: the European Union, Muslims who live in Europe and the Muslim world. According to the Declaration the Muslims clearly opt for and support European values: rule of law, principles of tolerance, values of democracy and the human rights, and “the belief that every human being has a right to the five fundamental values: life, faith, freedom, property and dignity”. Declaration appeals to The Muslims to adhere to “the imperatives of their faith” in their lives, namely: “to read and learn, to have faith and work hard, to be pious and respect parents, to be sincere and fight for individual rights, and to think about the future” declaration also appeals to the Islamic spiritual centre to “take a leading role in providing a global direction in practical matters” and to show to the world that “Islam is a serious and a just faith, that it is an attractive culture and peaceful in its politics, that it has good people and land that is rich, that Islam reflects equally the wise man of the East and the rational man of the West”. In this review, considering the socio-political framework wherein Muslims of today live, the need for frequent promotion of the values and the ideas stated in the Declaration is stressed.
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The article analyzes the existing models of legislative regulation of the main forms of cooperation between Human Rights Commissioners and constitutional (statutory) courts in the subjects of the Russian Federation. The author gives practical recommendations for further improvement of regional legislation.
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The article analyzes the most common civil approaches to the essence of agreement and the main stages of its conclusion. We reveal the essence of civil law agreement as a combinational legal fact. We make a conclusion that the category of juridical structure is of methodological importance for understanding the nature of civil law agreement. We offer our own definition of civil law agreement as a juridical structure that combines the main scientific concepts relating to the essence of the legal phenomenon under study.
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In this article we continue the study of regulators applied in the sphere of civil law and analyze the concept and the modern system of these regulators. We prove that the term civil law regulator is a part of the terminology of Russian civil jurisprudence. We demonstrate the value of scientific analysis of civil regulatory system and characterize the development trends of this system in the context of the reforms of civil legislation, i.e., its expansion on account of inclusion of new elements.
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